Document K6Ra7pgn4jaM9xkY76Qwx5B90

FILE NAME: Union Carbide (UC) DATE: 1973 Dec 3 DOC#: UC142 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Memo RE What Every Employee Should Know About Asbestos UC '49 2 INTERNAL CORRESPONDENCE UNION C A R B I D E C OR P OR ATI ON Te Neme; L o rg n o n Mr. W. J. Kovack Mining and Metis 38th Floor 270 Park Avenue Division Mr. W. T. Atkinson 279 PARK AVEHUE, NEW YORK, NEWYCR: Jo r- December 3, 1973 O rig in a tin g Oept. Medical Department Answering letter dete S u b jK c f WHAT EVERY EMPLOYEE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ASBESTOS Dear Bill: ' As I mentioned to you on the telephone, we have read the attached booklet and find it to be acceptable from the medical viewpoint except for the paragraph on page 3 entitled, "Now About Smoking." The second sentence in that paragraph reads as follows: "On the other hand, the asbestos industry workmen who do not smoke cigarettes-- and who never have smoked regularly-- show no greater incidence of bronchogenic cancer than the average man-on-the-street who does not smoke." I phoned Mr. William B. Reitze, Manager of Accident Prevention and Industrial Health at Johns-Manville. I questioned this statement and asked for supporting medical literature. He referred to the work of Dr, Irving Selikoff. Since Dr. Selikoff's work is questionable at best, it is open to criticism; and more than likely this statement cannot be justi fied. Even if we assume that such a statement is true, it may be misleading to the employees who may ignore the fact that heavy asbestos exposure leads to other conditions such as asbestosis and mesothelioma. We have graph, where bronchogenic asbestos who the same complaint about the statement on page 10, first para they restate that "...you have no greater chance of getting cancer than the average person not occupationally exposed to does not smoke." Very truly yours, JJW:BA Attachment ' John J. Welsh, M.D. uc.c; 013055 M&M employee Relations